Air Operations, Europe

Göring has transferred his bombers inland and begins a program, Operation Paula, of bombing airfields and industrial sites around Paris. There is a heavy raid on Paris as 200 bombers attempt to destroy aircraft factories and airfields near the capital. 254 people are killed in the suburbs. The French lose 33 fighters while the Germans lose 20 of their bombers.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Greek steamer Perrakis L Cambanis (3584t) is sunk by German bombing at Dieppe. It is later salvaged by German force and renamed Herta Engeline Fritzen for German service.
• U-37 sinks the Finnish steamer Snabb (2317t) 300 miles off Cape Finisterre with the loss of 1 crewmen. The Greek steamer Kyriakoula picks up the survivors and lands them a Queenstown.

China

Nationalist Chinese forces counterattack and capture Tsaoyang and retake Hsiangyang from the Japanese.

Mediterranean

The British submarine Parthian torpedoes the Italian tanker Strombo (5232t) in Salamis Bay. The tanker is beached off Dardanelles a total loss.

Western Front, Dunkirk

The Germans strike a decisive blow against the defensive perimeter at Dunkirk and the French rearguard is driven back to a line little more than 2 miles from the east mole at Dunkirk. Resistance, clearly, cannot last much longer. The British and French naval authorities are led to believe that there are only about 30,000 soldiers left in the beachhead and plan the night's operation accordingly.

During the night the last evacuation ships leave Dunkirk. Just before midnight the evacuation dies to a trickle. As the rearguard marched down to the ships an enormous crowd of French stragglers begins to appear out of the cellars and other hiding places. There are still plenty of ships but the French troops have not been given proper orders about where to go and which piers are in use. When the last ship leaves at 0340 hours there are still 40,000 men left for the Germans to capture.[MORE]